


All Those Paths (All Back to You)

by Mytay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Reunited and It Feels So Good, Shiro Deserves Rest, Voltron Season 7 Spoilers, and happiness, voltron season 7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-22
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-14 06:42:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15382932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mytay/pseuds/Mytay
Summary: Unrepentant, no-holds-barred fluff as Shiro arrives on Earth to find that there was someone waiting for him, and their complicated past has been wiped clean in the face of such devastating joy.If anyone deserves a happy ending, it's Takashi Shirogane.





	All Those Paths (All Back to You)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this way too fast yesterday, after the news broke, and posted it on Tumblr under this title: [_Wherein Shiro gets to be happy, and he also gets his man_](http://thisgirlhastales.tumblr.com/post/176104883513/wherein-shiro-gets-to-be-happy-and-he-also-gets). I've cleaned it up — fixed a few mistakes, added a few lines — and now it's here because let's grow this pairing on AO3, shall we? ;)

******

 

Shiro hadn’t expected anything about the return to Earth to be easy. 

 

He still had no arm, as the Olkari weren’t one hundred percent satisfied with their latest version of it (he thought it was amazing, but he was willing to wait for their best). He had no Lion (he was happy to see Keith grow into his leadership role — quite literally, since he’d aged those two years). Perhaps most pertinently, the Galra Empire was surely on their tail now that Lotor no longer provided a staying hand.

 

When they arrived to see Galra ships already hovering over Earth, it simply confirmed his expectations. Earth defences were being picked apart. The Olkari engaged the Galra first. Shiro and Matt took off in Olkari fighter ships, while the others formed Voltron.

 

The Galra forces weren’t actually the main fleet (small mercies), so they were defeated shortly, though Earth had clearly sustained multiple casualties. Said Earth forces retreated, with Voltron and the Olkari following them down to the planet's surface.

 

Shiro had a heart-stopping, breathless moment as he saw that familiar sky for the first time in  _years_.

 

A terse welcoming message was broadcasted to them, acknowledging their assistance, confirming that they weren’t about to get blasted out of the sky (and, hopefully, it also meant that they wouldn’t be arrested or court-martialled).

 

Shiro braced himself for the worst all the same; Keith was right at his side (his armless side), one hand on his Blade of Marmora dagger, the other on his bayard, and Matt stood with him as well, his sharp eyes taking in everything as it unfolded. Krolia elected to stay behind, as did Ryner — Coran and Allura came along, as they appeared to be the least intimidating aliens.

 

They landed on Earth, just outside the Garrison, to what looked like every single military from every single country, and twice as many media people.

 

And all of them were willing to hear  _everything they had to say._

 

Shiro could barely form the words to answer one question before another was asked. The other Paladins had become somewhat famous due to their disappearance (to their supposed deaths), and Shiro watched as they became worldwide sensations in the space of a blink (of several hundred camera flashes).

 

Coran and Allura were hardly registered as aliens until people got closer, and then the questions and flashes became an incomprehensible roar of sound and light, one constantly whirling storm. The military stepped in then, protecting them and pushing them towards the nearest building.

 

They were ushered into the Garrison doors, right down to sub-basement level 25, where all the heads of state and war had gathered.

 

Yet all of that ceased to matter seconds later. Before they saw anyone, they were shoved into a waiting area, empty of any personnel, except …

 

A wounded gasp, the sound of a sob.

 

Shiro _knew_ before he had even pushed past the others.

 

There, trembling and quietly weeping, barely held upright by the wall behind him, was _Adam._

 

Shiro froze in the midst of his space family, as he was confronted with the sight of his Earth family ( _almost_ family, before Adam had left, and Shiro had taken off to parts unknown). Allura put a concerned hand on his back. Keith was gripping his forearm, looking a bizarre cross between elated and concerned. Everyone else just seemed confused. 

 

The Garrison officials, the various Presidents and Prime Ministers waiting just beyond a few doors, the entire Galra Empire on its way to destroy them … It could all go to hell for the next bit of eternity because  _Shiro never thought he’d see this man again._

 

Adam seemed to be trying to speak, but words kept failing him — his hand came up to cover his mouth.

 

Shiro noticed a few things as he walked towards him. Adam’s uniform showed the rankings of a  _Major;_ he was sporting a five o’clock shadow, and a different set of glasses. His hands were calloused. His eyes were shadowed. 

 

He wore a ring on his left hand — a ring Shiro had given him what felt like a million years ago. A ring that Adam had left behind on Shiro's night-table before leaving ... And Shiro hadn't touched it, abandoning it to gather dust after he left for Kerberos.

 

“Takashi,  _please, just …”_ Adam finally managed to say, his voice hoarse, his hands stretching out.

 

As soon as Shiro was within arm’s reach, Adam had those rough hands on him, had him wrapped in an embrace, his face buried in Shiro’s neck, and maybe Shiro should be crying, but mostly he was just in shock that he got to  _have this._

 

When Adam managed to pull away — not far at all, just far enough to look Shiro in the eye — he whispered, “I … I get to have you back, and I’m wasting time crying all over you. I’m so sorry, Takashi.” A shaking hand came up, his fingers a feather light touch across the scar on his face, stroking through Shiro’s grey hair, and then they fell to his shoulder — to his empty sleeve.

 

Shiro braced himself for rapid-fire questions, for bitter recriminations, but all Adam did was breathe out, “You’re  _here. You’re here, oh god.”_

 

“I’m not alone,” Shiro said, because he somehow retained a measure of calm. If this was a dream, then he was going to draw it out as long as he possibly could. “I brought, well … I brought a lot of folks with me.”

 

Adam glanced over Shiro’s shoulder, and his shell-shocked expression finally took on something of a smile, a hint of his insatiable curiosity and dry wit. “I see. Aliens, missing Garrison cadets, Holt, and Keith.”

 

“Who is also an alien?” Lance said out of nowhere, high-pitched and cracking. “Also, Shiro has a husband and never said? Why is this the most shocking thing to happen ever?”

 

“Fiancé,” both Shiro and Adam said at once, Shiro with a wondering, awe-struck tone, Adam with something breathless and broken in his voice.

 

“I couldn’t talk about you. It hurt too much,” Shiro admitted, ashamed. “I was actually a bit glad, some days. That you’d turned me down. I hoped … it would make it easier for you …”

 

“Fuck you,” Adam said, getting Shiro to reel back a little in surprise. Adam, usually so vehemently against crude words and behaviour, blazed with a rebellious flare. “It wasn’t easier, not by a mile, and the minute you took off in that ship, I knew I’d made a mistake. I took back the ring, and …” Adam swallowed hard, but he seemed determined to shed no more tears. “I saw the news footage less than ten minutes ago, and now I’m here, and you are not fucking setting foot anywhere on this damn planet — or  _off_ this planet — without me. Never again.”

 

“Okay,” Shiro agreed without hesitation. “Okay,  _Major.”_

 

Adam threw his arms around Shiro, the embrace painfully tight, and he seemed to finally get a good look at the others. _“Keith,”_ Adam rasped out. “Holy crap, you’re huge.”

 

“Shiro proposed to you, and he didn’t tell me,” Keith said by way of reply, sounding all of sixteen. “I’ll take my hug after you’re done with the PDA, you gross geezers.”

 

And that, for whatever reason, set Shiro off — he burst out laughing, tears pouring down his face. Adam joined in, and they were holding each other up as they both cried through their mirth.

 

Shiro put his one hand on Adam’s neck, his thumb stroking his jawline. Adam’s eyes were fixed on his; his nose was red, his cheeks tear-streaked. Shiro hadn’t remembered what it felt like to be purely, uncomplicatedly happy until right in that moment.

 

“Let’s get married tomorrow,” he said with an impossibly wide grin.

 

Adam huffed out a laugh. “Today. As soon as this meeting is over. Fuck, I love you too much.”

 

Shiro murmured a clumsy, ridiculous,  _me, too, sweetheart,_ and then their lips met. He heard the sound of clapping and whooping, and he could pick up the chatter that was Coran insisting they have a  _full royal Altean wedding._

 

Adam, his fiancé, his closest friend who had been so difficult to ruffle, so polite and rule-abiding, pushed Shiro up against the wall and kissed him as if he were trying to steal the air from Shiro’s lungs. And Shiro happily let him.

 

The war council would start far later than originally intended because Team Voltron stood outside the door, refusing to budge until Shiro and Adam were ready to face the world.

 

Eventually, they would all sit down in that huge room with the generals, admirals, and leaders, and Shiro would see the odds of their success against the Galra Empire — they weren’t great. 

 

But Adam had his chair right next to his, and Keith kept shooting them contented looks, and Lance was grinning widely. Matt and Pidge were winking constantly, while Hunk was demanding to be caterer for the upcoming nuptials that he, Coran, and Allura were planning in whispers …

 

If nothing else, Shiro could have  _this, this family, this night._ And that would see him through anything the universe could throw at him.

 

******

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who read this on [my Tumblr](http://thisgirlhastales.tumblr.com/)! Yesterday was such a whirlwind of a day — this was such a welcome piece of happy news, at least for me. Hope you all enjoyed :) *hugs*


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